Adaptability v. Persistence

As anyone familiar with The Big-Brained Superheroes Club knows, we’re big on exercising our superpowers. And yesterday, our primary focus during our juggling lesson was supposed to be on employing our Persistence superpower. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again?

We started out yesterday morning with juggling pins in our hands and Persistence on our brains. We ended yesterday morning with those same juggling pins used as tennis ball bats and as microphones for impromptu interviews. Apparently, Adaptability was going to be the order of the day. But why? How? Were we not persistent enough in our struggle to deploy our Persistence superpowers? Well, without a parallel universe in which to run simultaneous experiments and observe relative outcomes, it’s hard to say. But here are some of the results we got out of adapting:

One of our little Big-Brained Superheroes wanted a giant sheet of drawing paper (the reverse side of construction plans that we had found in a recycle bin in an alley), but we were out. The only paper we were able to scrounge up was a partial sheet that had already been turned into what we might simply title “Meditation on a Single Circle”. We then discussed deploying our Adaptability superpower to make do with the materials we had available. Without so much as a grimace, our little Big-Brained Superhero took that Meditation in hand and went to work on it.

Several minutes later, a few other Big-Brained Superheroes were arguing over the use of a toy. Adaptability superpowers engage! "What’s ‘adaptability’?“ "Adaptability is the ability to adjust new situations,” etcetera, etcetera. Almost as if on cue, our little creative Big-Brained Superhero with the partial sheet of paper came over to show off her work. It was amazing! Not only did our little Big-Brained Superhero make use of leftover materials, she incorporated the art that was already on it into her own creation. She remixed it, if you will. We held up her work as a brilliant example of Adaptability, and within minutes, our obstinate group of squabblers had adapted to their constraints and resolved their argument–even engaging their Teamwork superpower in the process.

It’s easy to look back on yesterday and view it as a failure of Persistence. Maybe we should have worked harder…been more disciplinarian…argued/cajoled/dominated our Big Brain Superheroes into sticking to our original goal. Or maybe, in doing so, we ourselves would have been seen as obstinate. If only we had that parallel universe…